


Tales Of Brianna.

by RedStarFiction



Series: Time Moves To A Different Rhythm. [5]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-10 02:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10427457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedStarFiction/pseuds/RedStarFiction
Summary: The first in a series of random pieces about Jamie and Bree set in my AU Time Moves To A Different Rhythm.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally these works were part of the story 'I love you beyond the brink of madness' but the more prompts I got the more random it was becoming and so this is a collection of stories of Bree and Jamie bonding after her return to the past in my AU - Time Moves To A Different Rhythm.

The air in the hills was cleaner than any Brianna had ever known. Each time she made the hike from Lallybroch to one of the surrounding peaks it struck her afresh how cool and clear her lungs felt after just a few deep breaths.  
Without her Mama there to act as a pace-marker, Bree found herself having to maintain a sort of hopping trot to try and keep up with her father’s long strides. She had done pretty well for the last mile or so but as the rocky ground took on a steep incline she had to catch the hem of her father’s coat and tug it, before doubling over with her hands on her knees.  
“Please Da … can … can we slow down a bit?”  
She panted, looking up at him from beneath a heavy fringe that she had cut into her hair, despite her mother’s protests and Aunt Jenny’s fussing, the week before. Da told her it suited her just fine and Bree, thoroughly pleased with her efforts, agreed with him, although she had also agreed to let Mama neaten it up slightly.  
“Of course Ghraidh.”  
Jamie smiled and obligingly sat himself on a rock beside Bree and waited for her to catch her breath. He gazed out across the valleys and felt a familiar peace settle over him as it always did up here away from it all. After a moment Bree sat down beside him, making a thoroughly contented noise to be off her feet.  
“These boulders are colder than the chill of a winter night.”  
Jamie remarked casually and Bree grinned  
“Yeah, but at least we’re not walking for a minute!”  
“Would ye like to sit on my knee? My bum is older and tougher than yours.”  
Bree nodded gratefully and Jamie plucked her up, settling her on his lap and wrapping his arms around her to shield her from the chill.  
“Are ye warm enough?”  
“Yes, thank you Da.”  
Jamie smiled above Bree’s head and thought of how his nieces would have fussed to be at such an altitude in the cold.  
“My braw wee lassie!”  
They had been growing steadily closer over the last couple of months, Claire’s pregnancy forced her to remain behind on such excursions and she had prescribed herself more bed-rest than Jamie had anticipated which both pleased and worried him. The result was that if Bree wanted to get out of the house and go further than the nearest fields, she had to go with Jamie and the necessity of it had chased much of the remaining shyness from them both.  
“Da?”  
“Mmmm?”  
“What do you want the baby to be?”  
Jamie shrugged  
“I dinna overly mind.”  
“But if you could pick?”  
“Hmmm. Weel I suppose I would choose to have a laddie for I already have a bonnie wee lass and dinna think it right to be greedy.”  
Bree’s face lit up with pleasure at the compliment and she basked in it for a moment before saying  
“Do you want to know what I hope Mama has?”  
“Aye, go one then.”  
“I hope she has a girl so that I have a sister.”  
Jamie nodded and rested his chin lightly on her head  
“Ah, sisters are a blessing … most o’ the time.”  
He added grinning and thinking of the various times Jenny and he had been at loggerheads over the years.  
“Well I think I’ll be a good sister but I don’t really need a brother, I have Ian.”  
Jamie felt warmth flutter in his chest at the sweet sentiment. He was pleased that his daughter and favourite nephew … *youngest nephew* he corrected himself guiltily, were so close. They fought like cat and dog but then so did he and Jenny when they were bairns and a wee bit beyond it too.  
“A wee brother is likely to test ye patience that much is true.”  
Jamie’s grin broadened and he sighed contentedly.  
“Ye willna mind o’er much if you ha’ brother though will ye?  
Bree shook her head and hopped off his lap standing up and smoothing her dress with practised ease.  
“Mama told me that she had a baby before me, a little girl?”  
There was a question in her voice and Jamie wondered perhaps if Bree had overheard it rather than being told directly, though he could not think of who would mention Faith besides he and Claire after so many years.  
“Aye, she did. She was born in France a couple o’ years before ye were born.”  
“She died though.”  
Bree’s eyes clouded with sadness and worry and Jamie nodded cautiously.  
“She did but she was verra small and came too soon. Her name was Faith.”  
He saw Bree trembling a little, most likely with cold for the weather had taken a turn and he would need to lead them home soon, but he resisted the urge to draw her to him. One thing he had learned quickly about his daughter was that she had inherited Claire’s fiercely independent pride. She would let him know if she needed comfort but until then it was best to leave her be.  
“That’s a really pretty name.”  
“I always thought so.”  
Jamie nodded and stretched his arms above his head to loosen the knot’s forming in his shoulders. It had been a very long time since he had spoken of Faith to anyone. When Claire found out she was pregnant, their first child had been on both of their minds but neither had mentioned her, perhaps because some wounds remain tender to even the lightest touches. He wondered idly if perhaps that is why Claire had mentioned Faith to Brianna, for the need to speak fears of the heart often outweighs all else besides.  
“Do you think …”  
Bree began and then stopped, twirling one long strand of red hair around her finger.  
“Do I think what, a leannan?”  
“Do you think this baby will be alright?”  
Jamie nodded and smiled brightly at Bree.  
“Aye, I do. Ye Mam had you and look how big and braw ye are, eh?”  
She looked bashfully down at her shoes and Jamie gently tipped her chin up to look at her properly  
“It will all be well, Brianna.”  
Bree stepped in and lightly wrapped her arms about his neck, pressing the chilly nub of her nose into his collar, accepting his certainty with a readiness that both delighted and awed him in equal measure.  
“We should get back, ye dinna wish to catch a cold and end up sharin’ a sick bed wi’ Ian!”  
“OK, I have to stop by Mama’s garden on the way back for peppermint leafs.”  
Bree pulled back from his neck and he noticed that she looked a little uncertain. Jamie laughed  
“Even I ken which one peppermint is!”  
“I do too! I just picked spearmint by accident last time!”  
Bree laughed and accepted Jamie’s offered hand as they began to pick their way down the craggy path. Jamie remained vigilant, lest Bree should stumble but she picked her way carefully and quickly down the steep slope without hesitation.  
“Well ye may not have ye mother’s gift with herbs, but ye are as sure footed as a goat!”  
Jamie let go of her hand cautiously and let her make her own way with only a little trepidation, watching with pride as she navigated the slope and offering up a quiet but frequently visited prayer.  
*Lord, keep them safe, my wife and my children.*


	2. A Question of Virtue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie and Claire discussing the possibility of Bree dating as she gets older.

“I saw Brianna and Janet playin' a wee game wi' flowers yesterday. Did I tell ye?”

Claire put her hairbrush down and looked down at her husband, rolling himself into his kilt at her feet.

“No, you didn't. Was it a particularly memorable game?”  
Claire grinned cheekily at him as their eyes met and Jamie smiled back.

“Well, no only they were plucking the petals and chanting: Il m'aime un peu, beaucoup, passionnément, à la folie, pas du tout”

“'He loves me a little, a lot, passionately, madly, not at all' – I played that as a girl.”  
She hummed happily as Jamie kissed her ankle before standing and buckling his belt.

“Aye and it's no' harm at all only it got me wonderin'...”  
He fidgeted with the thick leather at his waist self-consciously and Claire folded her hands neatly into her lap waiting for him to speak.

“D'ye think Brianna will take advisement when the time comes?”  
Jamie asked finally and stretched his arm over his head with faux nonchalance.

“On...?”

“Choosin' a husband.”

Claire smiled despite herself and stood up, wrapping her arms lightly around him and tiptoeing to kiss his chin.

“I don't know … but probably not.”

“Aye, weel that doesna surprise me.”

Jamie sighed in frustration and dropped to his knees before the round swell of her belly, placing his hands on either side, whispering  
“If ye are a lassie I wish ye to promise me that ye'll allow me a wee bit more control than ye mam or ye sister do.”

Claire chuckled and tipped his chin up, kissing the small worry line between his brows.

“Don't count on it. And don't worry about Bree either.”

“But …”  
Jamie pursed his lips considering  
“I dinna wish her to fall in love wi' a wee fool an' throw her life away! Ye ken what happened to ...”

“The McNab girl? Yes you have been quite vocal about your opinion of that.”  
Claire rolled her eyes and Jamie frowned, standing again and crossing to the dresser to fetch a clean shirt.

“Aye! I have!”  
He tugged the cotton over his head and turned to look at Claire properly. She was seven months pregnant and glowing like a beacon in the morning sunlight. The sight of her melted his heart as it always had but his mind was on darker things and he felt the weight of them settle on him.  
“That lassie had been dealt a rough enough hand and ye ken she's startin' to show now, eh? She's disgraced and...”

“And you think Bree might also take a lover when she's older?”  
Claire sighed, picking up her brush again. The scandalised look on Jamie's face would have been comical if he didn't also look incredibly hurt.

“No I dinna think that at all Claire. Brianna is a sensible lass and I would ne'er question her honour nor her integrity.”

“I know, I'm sorry I was only teasing you.”  
Claire moved as if to touch his cheek but he ducked away.

“If I was to suggest such a thing I would ha' thought ye'd slap my face no' make fun.”  
Jamie stood up and stalked over to the window, his back to his wife as she shrugged.

“Well … I had lovers. I was fifteen when ...”

Jamie hunched his shoulders up to his ears and made a sharp noise to silence her.

“Jamie, you knew that! It's hardly a shock...”

“Mmpphmm.”

Claire raised her eyebrows at the noise and did her best to smother the giggle that escaped her lips.

“What?”  
Jamie turned to her, one ruddy eyebrow cocked. Claire acknowledged the slight flush to the skin of his neck and let her breath out in a long huff and flopped dramatically backwards onto the bed, or as dramatically as the huge bump would allow, closing her eyes against the glare of the sun.

“Only you could be jealous of a teenage love affair had by a woman you have been married to for over twenty years.”

“I'm no' jealous.”  
A shadow fell across her face as Jamie moved to stand over her but she kept her eyes closed

“I dinna ken much about your time Sassenach, but if it's normal for a wee lass to take a … lover,”  
The word fell from his lips with obvious distaste and Claire grinned blindly up at him  
“I am glad I dinna ever have to suffer such a place.”

“Not 'wee' lass' no. But a grown woman ...”

Jamie snorted and Claire cracked one eye open  
“If ye were fifteen, ye were no' a grown woman. Ye were a foolish lass in need of ...”

Claire cut him off by snaking a hand up his kilt and taking a very firm grip. The object in question was surprisingly soft and Claire opened both eyes questioningly.

“You really are cross, aren't you?”

“Aye, as it happens I am. I dinna want Brianna to think it normal to behave in such a way.”

Claire could feel her own patience slipping and with no small effort pushed herself back up to face her husband.

“You think I'm going to ruin our daughter's virtue?”

“Wi' ideas like that, aye! I do!”

“Well I don't want you making her feel like a brazen hussy for so much as glancing at a young man. Nor do I want her shepherded into marriage because of a teenage infatuation.”

“So ye think it best to just let her … romp around...”

“Jamie!”

Claire shook her head angrily at him and closed her eyes trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation.

“I do not think Brianna would want to 'romp around' even if I was to endorse such a thing, which I do not! But there is a huge middle ground between what you think is proper and what is natural for any young person.”

Jamie narrowed his eyes at her, not yet ready to cease the quarrel. He was genuinely mortified by Claire's attitude and if he was being completely honest there was no small amount of ownership involved. Claire was his, she belonged to him completely and always would. Brianna … she was his daughter and as per the natural way of things, one day he would give her away to another man. But that man would have gone through a rigorous vetting process and Jamie would have his say one way or the other on the man's suitability. His mind recoiled at the thought of Bree giving herself away so freely.

“I managed no' to disgrace myself, nor any lass. I waited until I was legally married.”  
He said evenly and scowled when Claire snorted loudly

“Oh yes! The loose Sassenach wench you took for your wife!”

“I didna call ye 'loose'...”  
Jamie protested but had the grace to look abashed

“And you didn't complain about my previously acquired knowledge on our wedding night either!”  
Claire quipped, giving him a very pointed look.

A tenuous smile tugged at the corner of Jamie's mouth and a little of the tension left his shoulders.

“Well,”  
He murmured tracing a finger along the pattern of the quilt, spread neatly across the foot of the bed.  
“I ken ye had been married before and as I recall I told ye at the time that I was glad one of us knew what we were doin'.”

“I do recall.”  
Claire smiled and held her hand out to him, squeezing his fingers as he laced them gently through hers, one large calloused thumb rubbing lightly across her wrist.

“I didna begrudge ye your past Sassenach, and ye didna begrudge me mine either. We had that between us from the start and it has endured. Though lord knows we've had it tested!”  
His smile was broader now, his golden complexion losing it's ruby hue as the last of his temper left him.

“I would defend Brianna to the very gates o' Hell no matter the choices she makes but she is not in your time Sassenach, and she is being raised a Catholic and I would ask that ye let me encourage her behaviour accordingly.”

Claire bit her lip. It seemed foolish to argue about Bree's adult choices when she was only nine years old but perhaps better to set some ground rules now.

“Bree is Catholic and I have no objections to that, but I will advise her as I see fit, Jamie.”

They remained still for a moment and then Jamie inclined his head ever so slightly.

“Aye, well fine. Ye advise Bree, but I will be terrifyin' any wee bastard that comes near her wi' fire, brimstone and my boot up his arse if he doesna seem proper.”

“Deal!”  
Claire grinned and shook her husbands hand before he could add any more clauses into the bargain. Jamie tugged her close and nuzzled his face into the delicate hollow of her collar bone eliciting a small squeak.

“Now Sassenach, let me show ye some o' the things I have learned since I let ye ruin *my* virtue!”

"Ruin it?"  
Claire gasped in indignation

"Aye, but dinna fash, ye gave me somethin' a lot better in return!"


	3. Walking in Clouds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have frequently visited the theme of being lost and found and what that means for individuals. I wanted to visit it now with the idea of Jamie and Bree still getting to know each other and the bond of trust that it forming between them.
> 
> It has been a while since I added to this piece, so I hope you will enjoy this chapter. As always thank you so much for all of your kind words, encouragement and support.
> 
> Han xx

Jamie stood in the swirling folds of mist and closed his eyes, listening intently. At first all he could hear was the laboured texture of his own heavy breathing. He wasn’t panicking, not yet, but the burning sensation in his throat each time he filled his lungs was not merely born of exertion nor from shouting. Panic was bubbling beneath the surface and Jamie fought to keep it at bay.

Rolling fog in the Highland’s was a cause for concern, it brought with it a cold that seemed to seep into a person’s bones in minutes and it was easy to lose sight of the beaten track and stumble into rocks or over ledges, no matter how old and experienced a wanderer may be, for a wee lass on her own it could prove fatal if she was to panic and run. Images of Brianna laying with a broken neck from a blind fall, or drowned in a hidden stream, her body concealed from his eyes in the grey expanse of landscape rushed through his mind and he squeezed his eyes shut tighter.

He should never have left her. It didn’t matter that she wished to practice her tracking, it was getting late and the sky had been darkening, he had noticed that even as he loped off to get a distance between them. He had left her by the river, heading back toward Lallybroch but winding himself around a maze of trees and over tiny brooks, testing her skills and aiming to have her find him on the path to home.

Why had he not said no to her? She had been tired from the day trekking and fishing and he knew the weather was unpredictable… He had thought he had outgrown such carelessness as he had outgrown making jokes at another’s expense – they were the follies of young men with no thought for any but themselves. Now his daughter was somewhere in the woods, alone and Jamie could only hope she was terrified because if she was not, it could only mean that she was beyond fear …

“BRIANNA!”  
Jamie bellowed again and opened his eyes listening, every fibre of his being straining for the sound of her calling back, or a flash of red hair amongst the grey. When no sound but the wind came back to him, he began to move forward again. He knew the woods near Lallybroch well, better than most in fact, and his footing was light and easy despite not being able to see more than a foot ahead of himself.

He thought of Willie and the fog at Helwater which had swallowed the wee laddie when he had been no more than three years old. Jamie had found him, curled in a shallow dug-out, cold and frightened but safe and whole and he would find Brianna so too.

“BREE!!”  
Jamie flinched as a stray bramble wrapped around his calf and punctured the skin. He bent to tug his sock up and as he did so, he heard the sound he had been praying for. It had been faint, so faint he might have missed it had he not lowered his head out of the wind.

 

“BREE?!”  
Jamie roared and sure enough the answering cry came back to him again.

“Da!”

Jamie moved as quickly as he dared, not quite running, stopping now and then to call again and wait for the answering echo. It had been getting steadily louder as Jamie moved but now his daughters voice came faintly again. She was moving to meet him, trying to find him.

“BREE! STAND STILL!”

Jamie felt the blood in his fingertips, pulsing as adrenaline surged through his body. He recognised the sensation as the absence of his sword and dirk, the willingness of his body to fight, though fight what his mind could not say for it was surely only the weather and the climate of Scotland itself which stood between he and Brianna.

Moisture which had been clinging to the lengths of his hair dripped down his forehead and into his eyes and he blinked it away impatiently, shaking his head like a dog as he vaulted a fallen log, dimly aware of the bright white thread from Brianna’s shirt, snagged on the bark.

Jamie called again and this time her voice came back close enough to hear that her nose was clogged, likely she had been weeping, poor wee thing… and to hear the relief in it too. She knew he was coming, she trusted that he would find her.

And then she was in front of him in the path, a waif in a dirty shirt and muddy breeks, her hair matted with leaves and rain, the rich red shine dulled to a muted ruby glow, her eyes huge and frightened one moment, then alight with the most beautiful smile the next.

“DA!”

 

Jamie swept her off her feet as she reached him, lifting her off of the treacherous ground and into the safety of his embrace. He felt her arms, thin and prickled with cold, lock around his neck and cling to him with more strength than he would have known she had, did he not ken her mother so well.

“It happened so fast Da! It was like the clouds fell out of the sky and I couldn’t see you! I couldn’t see anything!”

 

“Hush. It’s alright. I’m here. I have ye Brianna. You’re safe.”

 

Jamie pressed his cheek to the top of her head, absorbing her fear and being as strong and steady as she needed him to be. When her breathing evened out and the worst of the trembling had left her body Jamie spoke again  
“Are ye hurt lassie?”  
He murmured, trying to look down at her face, hidden in his neck.

“No. Not very. I fell over … and I lost the fish … but I’m OK. I’m sorry! I’m sorry Da!”

 

Her words shivered into his hair and Jamie set her on her feet only long enough to unbutton his coat and wrap it securely around her shaking shoulders. Jamie had forgotten about the fish they had caught. His nine year old daughter had been abandoned by her father and left in the middle of a gathering fog with nothing but a string of fish and was apologising for losing them in her desperate attempt to find her way home … for an awful second Jamie thought he might start laughing.

 

“Dinna mind the fish, it doesna matter a bit. Ye did nothing wrong Brianna, I should never have left ye on your own. If there is blame it lies wi’ me.”

 

Jamie kissed her forehead and lifted her again, cradling her gently this time, noting that the knees on both legs of her breeks, as they hung over his arm, were torn and the skin beneath the cloth was scraped raw.

“Ye had a proper tumble, eh?”

 

“I couldn’t see where I was going…”

 

Bree shuddered and nuzzled her head against his shoulder, like a cat just in from a winters night, seeking warmth. Jamie looked down at the curve of her jaw, just visible tucked into the collar of his coat. The trio of wee freckles inherited from Claire, each no bigger than a pin head and the colour of a walnuts shell, had a smudge of dirt running alongside them and the skin beneath was pale with the chill.

 

“Let’s go home, mo chride. We need to get ye warm and your mother will be spare wi’ worry.”

 

Jamie turned, unerringly in the direction of Lallybroch, his pace slow and deliberate. He would not put Brianna down unless he had to and she seemed of a similar opinion as her arms once again wound around his neck, holding tightly to him.

 

“How do you know it’s the right way?”  
She asked, eyes wide with awe at her father’s ability to guide them, seemingly without thinking, it was like watching Daddy drive through the busy streets of Boston, never getting lost.

“Ye come to ken such things through many years of knowing a place. I ken home is this way because the wind always comes up from the West over the hills and because the river flows down to the mill pond.”

Bree nodded but in truth she had no idea where the river was, much less where the wind was coming from. Shrouded in the damp grey fog was like being suspended in a cloud but it was no longer frightening, not with Da here with her.

“Brianna, if ye wish to have a word wi’ me for leaving ye, I would no’ begrudge ye it.”

Jamie said quietly, keeping his gaze level as he felt her eyes turn up to study his face.

“You didn’t leave me. You found me.”

 

“I should have been with you all along.”

 

“It’s alright. We were practicing tracking. It wasn’t your fault the weather changed. I shouldn’t have been a baby and gotten so scared.”

 

Jamie glanced down at her and a small smile lifted the corners of his mouth as she wrinkled her nose in disgust with herself.

 

“I think ye have been verra brave.”

 

“I cried.”  
Bree said flatly and Jamie shrugged

 

“There is nothing wrong with shedding tears, it’s what ye do when they dry that matters.”

 

“I tried to find you, and then I fell over and rolled down a bank and …”  
Brianna huffed and frowned, her pride dented with the admission of her misadventure but Jamie only held her a little tighter.

 

“And ye got back up and kept trying. Ye answered me when I called ye and when I told ye to stand still ye followed my order. Ye did well lass, I’m proud of you.”

 

“Thank you Da. But I wasn’t very brave. I don’t think I’m very good at being in the wild like you. ”

 

They had found the well trodden foot path which lead straight down to Lallybroch and at Brianna’s urging, Jamie put her down although he reached for her hand as soon as her boots squelched on the track and she gave it to him gratefully. Jamie seldom had cause to hold his daughters hand in his and felt a momentary jolt at the feel of the small sturdy fingers wrapped in the curve of his palm.

 

“Do you want your coat?”  
Bree asked and he shook his head, rolling the sleeves over almost double for her

 

“No, you keep it for now.”

 

“The woods look beautiful, don’t they Da?”  
Emboldened by his presence she swept and arm before her face and grinned at the swirling shapes it created.

 

“Aye, ye Grandmother, my mother, used to call this ‘cloud walking’”  
Jamie smiled.

 

“She was right! It reminds me of the plane to Scotland from Boston. We flew through some clouds and it looked just like this!”  
Bree nodded and looked up at Jamie quizzically   
“Do you think she might have been a traveller like me and Mama? Maybe she went on a plane?”

 

“Och! No. I dinna think so, but she had a good imagination and an eye for the artistic – much like you, a leannan.”  
Jamie chuckled before stopping dead in his tracks and placing a stilling hand over Brianna’s chest.  
“Shhh. Wait.”

 

His voice was so low as he crouched beside her, Brianna could almost believe that she had imagined his voice inside her head, but a moment later all such ponderous thoughts fled as a deer, almost as pale as the fog, stepped out into the path before them.

 

Her nose was like a perfect nub of coal and her eyes were framed with lashes as long and elegant as any Brianna had ever seen in photographs. Since being at Lallybroch she had seen deer brought in after a kill and had seen them from a distance in their herds but never up so close.

 

The deer dipped her head, bowing gracefully and without thinking Brianna copied her movement, stepping from around her father’s protective arm and bowing as low as she could without toppling over. When she looked up the deer was gone.  
“That was amazing. Why did she bow to us Da?”  
Bree sighed happily as Jamie reclaimed her hand and they resumed the walk home

 

“One wild and beautiful creature will often recognise another. I think she was showing she recognised ye.”

 

“Really?”  
The hopeful pride in Bree’s voice made Jamie’s heart soar and he was pleased to have found a way to sooth some of her damaged ego.

 

“Aye, maybe so.”

 

Satisfied, Bree lapsed into silence and together they made it through the fog of fallen clouds, their bond and the trust building up between them stronger than ever, as they descended back into the real world.


	4. As the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Potential triggers in this piece. I am not 100% sure but I would rather be safe with peoples feelings. This was from a tumblr prompt asking for Jamie in full protective Dad mode.

Bree had been given permission to gather blackberries for jam and had been kneeling before a bush laden with fruit when the man stepped out of the thicket and stroked her hair. She had cried out because he startled her, not because she was afraid. But when he had tried to shush her, his hands over her mouth had smelt of pine needles and faintly of wee and he had refused to put her down despite her struggles. This strange man in his tattered clothes, wandering on the Fraser lands had groped at her chest and pressed her hand to the thick bulge in his breeks, groaning as if it were he who was in terror. He had dropped her and begun fumbling with the buttons on his breeks and Bree had scrabbled away from him as fast as she could.

She had run through the thicket, and instinctively cried out for her mother, the sound of crashing feet behind her spurring her on until her lungs burned, ignoring the sharp pull of stray branches snagging at her hair and scratching her hands. Her boots kicked up soil, dark and soft from the rain the night before and Bree tried to quieten her own footfall as Da had shown her to do, aiming for the soft earth rather than the dead leaves and forest matter as she plunged deeper into the wood.

What followed in the moments after would for Brianna always be captured only in flashes of memory.  
The feel of hands gripping her under the armpits and the way her father’s eyes swam briefly into focus, his gaze reassuring and yet frightening in its intensity for the split second she held it.

The sound of his boot crushing leaves into splintered fragments beneath the toe as he placed her firmly behind himself and whirled to face her assailant.

His legs, long and powerful, bent into a crouching position, sunlight glinting off the dirk in his hand.

The strange man’s face, rounded in an ‘O’ of shock at seeing Da so, of realising that Bree was not alone, and then the way his hands came up, not as fists but open palmed and pleading.

Her father’s mouth, normally soft and with the trace of a smile hiding in either corner, twisting into a snarl, his face blanched of all colour and his eyes hard and piercing like blue glass. It had made her legs feel wobbly to see him look so and for days after, she would dream of a great white wolf staring down a cowering fox.

Fergus had appeared beside her then, his good hand gentle on her shoulder and she allowed herself to be turned into him, pressing her face to his shoulder as he lifted her and carried her away.

“Did he harm you, mon petite rouge? That man? Did he harm you in anyway?”

Bree shook her head and heard Fergus shout “Tha i gun chron.” In the direction of Da and the stranger before she was set down and folded into his arms and the scent of him chased away the lingering smell of pine.

“Your Papa will see to it that he cannot hurt you. You are safe.”  
Fergus spoke hastily his accent; normally a light Franco-Scots hybrid reverted to the lyrical Parisian inflection of his childhood and he smoothed Brianna’s rumpled clothes and patted her hair.

“Where’s Da?”  
She murmured the trauma of being accosted in the woods paling in comparison to the unbridled fury that she had seen in her father. She wanted the comfort of having him here with her, she wanted him to smile and call her ‘a leannan’ and hold her hand because if he did those things then everything would truly be alright. Fergus pinched her chin lightly tipping her face so that she looked up at him.

“That man threatened the person most precious to him in the entire world; your father must hold him accountable for that.”

“Will he be angry with me too?”

“Non.”  
Fergus shook his head firmly and gathered Bree closer to his chest. Bree was not sure how long they waited but the sound of a large body moving through the bushes made her look up as her father stepped into view.

His shirt was crumpled and damp with perspiration and his stock was gone but his mouth turned upwards as his eyes lit upon her and Bree flew to him, her arms wrapping tightly around his waist then around his neck as he knelt before her, pulling her in close, his arms around her were gentle and his embrace was the promise of safety from all the world, but a fierce energy coursed through him and Bree shuddered against his chest as the last of her fear spilled down her face despite herself.

“Are ye well, mo nighean?”

“Yes Da. He didn’t hurt me… he dropped me and I ran.”

“I ken lass, he told me what he did to ye.”

“I just ran away Da … I …”

“Hush. Ye did the right thing, graidh. Ye did right.”

Jamie’s eyes flicked toward Fergus and something dark and unspoken flitted between them before his gaze returned to Brianna, softening instantly, his love for her clear and certain within their azure depths and Bree felt herself centre, like a spinning top coming back to rest.

“I promise ye that he will no’ trouble ye again Brianna.”

“Did you hit him? I think he was just lonely Da.”

Bree bit her lip and Jamie traced his thumb over the arc of her cheekbone, smudging the trails left by her tears.

“Aye, I hit him. I hit him because he frightened ye and because you are mine to protect and protect ye I shall. His loneliness does not excuse him.”

“Is he OK?”

Jamie pushed his tongue into his cheek and considered her a moment

“He is as a man who molests wee lassies in the wood deserves to be.”  
He said finally, gathering Bree up into his arms and turning decidedly in the direction of home. Bree allowed her cheek to rest against his shoulder and gently stroked the red-gold thatch of stubble coating her father’s jaw, a fleck of something red and sticky high on his cheek caught the light and Bree brushed it away with her thumb, rubbing the smear it left on her skirt. She was tired and a little upset still and in truth she wanted her Mama rather desperately but Da was a warm solid presence and Bree felt, with a sudden clarity, that he would always be here. She had felt that about Daddy but never so strikingly with Jamie … Da. Yet as he carried her, silent and steady back to their home, she knew it in the same way that she knew the sky was blue and fish needed water, Da would never leave her. He would be like the stars in the sky, a constant and reliable guide, even when she could not see him.


End file.
